Don't Give Up
John 3:16: "For God so loved the world tat He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
Galatians 6:9: "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
I have always been the type of person that gets discouraged rather quickly when I don't see immediate results. Though the Lord has helped me a great deal with this over the years, I still stuggle with it from time to time. I admit, I have complained and talked with God about this a lot. I remember one specific time several years ago I was asking, rather complaining, that it seemed like no one was responding as I thought they should- for example- I would invite people to church, I would talk to people about the Lord, I would try to be part of people's lives and give them the Good News of Jesus Christ- I would try to do what the Lord would want me to do--and much of the time it fell on deaf ears. There was no response from them or what little response was negative. The Lord hit home with me that day when He spoke to my heart-- "I know EXACTLY how you feel." I thought- "Yes, Lord, I'm sure you do! You sent your ONLY Son- your BEST- You gave your BEST when when You sent your Son Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sins- You sent letters (The Bible) to people and invited them to come and be a part of Your world- You sent out other people to tell the world about Your great love- and what kind of response did You get? A lot of people either ignored Your GREAT INVITATION of salvation at least- or took it so far to spit on it, burn it, turn others away from You. They killed the very BEST that You could possibly give to the world- Your Son Jesus Christ. They ignore or throw away Your invitation and don't read Your letters. Yes, Lord- You do know how I feel!"
But what does God do? Does He give up on mankind? Does He turn His back on those that despise Him, shake their fists in His face,ignore Him and His messengers? Has He grown weary in well doing? Has He stopped loving and caring for mankind? No way! And neither should we. The Word says to not grow weary while doing good. Even if no one listens to you, no ones comes when you invite them or they turn a deaf ear to you. We should never stop- because the Word also says in due season we shall reap if we don't lose heart- if we don't get discouraged.
The words "due season" in Galatians 6:9 means an appointed time, definitive time, proper time for action--it is determined by the Lord. We can't make things happen. You may invite someone to come to church 99 times and it just might be that the 100th time was the appointed time. If we had given up after 99 times- we would have missed seeing the fruit of our labor- and someone may have missed an opportunity to be saved. We can only do what we feel the Lord would have us do- do our best-- give our best- our 100%- just as He did-- and let the rest with God.
I still get a little disappointed when others don't turn their hearts to the Lord. I get discouraged sometimes when I don't see fruit for my labors. But I keep trying. We will never know until we reach the other side, what all our labors have done. We may never live to see the fruit that grew out of our toil, our labor, our work for the Lord. It isn't up to us. Our part is to be obedient to what the Lord has asked us to do. That is what we will be judged on. We wont' be judged on the results- good or bad. But we will be judged if He asked us to do something and we didn't do it because we were afraid of failure. We will be judged if He asked us to go somewhere and we didn't quite understand why and we disobeyed. We will be judged on whether or not we were obedient to the Lord. I would rather be obedient and not see results than be disobedient and grieve the Lord. Our disobedience grieves the Lord. And it brings death to our spirit each time we disobey- because we can't really love the Lord and then disobey Him. We can't really disobey the Lord and expect Him to bless us. If we really love the Lord we WILL obey Him.
So, if you are facing a time of discouragement or disappointment because you feel you are not seeing the results you would like to see for the Lord- remind yourself that the Lord Himself must feel that way at times too. The Bible says that He feels everything that we do. There isn't anything that we could possibly experience in this life that God doesn't feel it as well. He cares about the things that we care about. He never grows weary! But He mostly cares and desires that we obey His Word and do the things that we feel the Lord is asking us to do. Don't grow weary or faint in doing good. Don't get weary! Trust the outcome to the Lord!
Galatians 6:9: "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
I have always been the type of person that gets discouraged rather quickly when I don't see immediate results. Though the Lord has helped me a great deal with this over the years, I still stuggle with it from time to time. I admit, I have complained and talked with God about this a lot. I remember one specific time several years ago I was asking, rather complaining, that it seemed like no one was responding as I thought they should- for example- I would invite people to church, I would talk to people about the Lord, I would try to be part of people's lives and give them the Good News of Jesus Christ- I would try to do what the Lord would want me to do--and much of the time it fell on deaf ears. There was no response from them or what little response was negative. The Lord hit home with me that day when He spoke to my heart-- "I know EXACTLY how you feel." I thought- "Yes, Lord, I'm sure you do! You sent your ONLY Son- your BEST- You gave your BEST when when You sent your Son Jesus Christ into the world to save us from our sins- You sent letters (The Bible) to people and invited them to come and be a part of Your world- You sent out other people to tell the world about Your great love- and what kind of response did You get? A lot of people either ignored Your GREAT INVITATION of salvation at least- or took it so far to spit on it, burn it, turn others away from You. They killed the very BEST that You could possibly give to the world- Your Son Jesus Christ. They ignore or throw away Your invitation and don't read Your letters. Yes, Lord- You do know how I feel!"
But what does God do? Does He give up on mankind? Does He turn His back on those that despise Him, shake their fists in His face,ignore Him and His messengers? Has He grown weary in well doing? Has He stopped loving and caring for mankind? No way! And neither should we. The Word says to not grow weary while doing good. Even if no one listens to you, no ones comes when you invite them or they turn a deaf ear to you. We should never stop- because the Word also says in due season we shall reap if we don't lose heart- if we don't get discouraged.
The words "due season" in Galatians 6:9 means an appointed time, definitive time, proper time for action--it is determined by the Lord. We can't make things happen. You may invite someone to come to church 99 times and it just might be that the 100th time was the appointed time. If we had given up after 99 times- we would have missed seeing the fruit of our labor- and someone may have missed an opportunity to be saved. We can only do what we feel the Lord would have us do- do our best-- give our best- our 100%- just as He did-- and let the rest with God.
I still get a little disappointed when others don't turn their hearts to the Lord. I get discouraged sometimes when I don't see fruit for my labors. But I keep trying. We will never know until we reach the other side, what all our labors have done. We may never live to see the fruit that grew out of our toil, our labor, our work for the Lord. It isn't up to us. Our part is to be obedient to what the Lord has asked us to do. That is what we will be judged on. We wont' be judged on the results- good or bad. But we will be judged if He asked us to do something and we didn't do it because we were afraid of failure. We will be judged if He asked us to go somewhere and we didn't quite understand why and we disobeyed. We will be judged on whether or not we were obedient to the Lord. I would rather be obedient and not see results than be disobedient and grieve the Lord. Our disobedience grieves the Lord. And it brings death to our spirit each time we disobey- because we can't really love the Lord and then disobey Him. We can't really disobey the Lord and expect Him to bless us. If we really love the Lord we WILL obey Him.
So, if you are facing a time of discouragement or disappointment because you feel you are not seeing the results you would like to see for the Lord- remind yourself that the Lord Himself must feel that way at times too. The Bible says that He feels everything that we do. There isn't anything that we could possibly experience in this life that God doesn't feel it as well. He cares about the things that we care about. He never grows weary! But He mostly cares and desires that we obey His Word and do the things that we feel the Lord is asking us to do. Don't grow weary or faint in doing good. Don't get weary! Trust the outcome to the Lord!
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